Soccer injuries...

Last Saturday, Connor played in a soccer game, went for the ball, and he and a kid from the other team collided.  I happened to miss the whole thing because I ran to my car to retrieve a blanket...so when I came back the other parents were all, "Heather, you totally missed it!  Connor totally collided with another kid!"  I walked over to the bench, asked him if he was ok, he nodded, "I'm fine", so I returned to my seat. But when he didn't play a whole lot of the rest of the game, I wondered what was up.  So after the game, I took a look at his eye, and saw this...

It looked like a huge tumor had grown under his eyebrow.  He couldn't see very well out of it...

I wonder why??? :)

The next day it looked like this...I made him go to church anyway...mean mom. 

On Monday, he went to school, and as he walked into one of his classes he pretended to bang into the doorway.  Covering his eye, he started to moan,

 "Oh, that really hurt!" 

He sat next to his friend, still holding his eye,

and his friend asked,

"Are you ok?"  

Connor removed his hand, and said,

"does it look swollen to you?"

His friend freaked out, "Dude!  It's totally black!!"

 He got a good laugh out of it, and needless to say, lots of attention that day!

Looks like fun huh????

Until....

Uh, yeah...!

The kids spent all day on Sunday playing on the swing, literally hours out there, then on Monday, Connor and Taylor went out, and on their 2nd time swinging, the post split in two!   Lukily the boys were as low to the ground as they could be when the post split, so no one was hurt...scary stuff!

Karl quickly put up a new post, good as new...at least for another 7 years...hopefully?

Showing off those Talents!

For some reason, each of our recitals were held in April instead of May,which made for a busy April, but ultimately, a very grateful mom!  I can't tell you how proud I am of each of them, they put in hours of "not so fun" practice, and did a great job! 

Parker played Habanera, from the opera "Carmen".

Ashlyn played "Perpetual Motion" from her Suzuki violin book.

Alyssa sang "Many a New Day" from the musical "Oklahoma". 

And so the adventure BEGINS!  

Sunday afternoon, we watched as my parents were set apart to be missionaries.  It was a beautiful experience.  The Stake President asked each of my brothers and sisters, and in-laws to share thoughts about my parents and their gifts that would help them in serving.  Being the oldest I was asked to be first.  I actually got through it without crying...getting sappy in my old age I guess, but it was really inspiring to hear everyone in attendance share their love for and confidence in my parents.  They will be stellar missionaries, helping refugees from Nepal, living in Minnesota.  

I will definitely miss them though....

Spring Break...

We decided to have a "staycation" this year over Spring Break.  Karl has a new position at work, and couldn't take off the whole week, plus, we're saving for a big vacation, so we planned mini-outings for the week.  

Monday:  After we cleaned the house....:)...the kids went to a movie with friends.

Tuesday:  Karl took the day off, and we went up to SLC and played all day.  There is a brand new mall in the heart of the city, that was fantastic!  

Wednesday:  The kids played with friends during the day, then we invited family to our home for dinner.  We had planned to head to the canyon, but it rained, so we just ate our hamburgers and hot dogs at our home and played in the rain.

Thursday:  Karl had the day off, and we went to a movie, then out to eat, then ice skating with Lee and Lisa's family (our cousins).  Taylor had never been ice skating, and was determined to just sit and watch, but then Karl convinced him to go out and try it, and wouldn't you know it, the kid was a NATURAL!  He just zoomed in and out of everyone.  I think his practice on roller blades paid off..

Friday:  Connor headed up to Logan with his friend for a soccer game, Alyssa stayed home to work on home work, so Karl and I took Parker, Ashlyn, and Taylor and their friends to the Lehi Legacy pool, then to Costco for churros.  MMMM!  

City Creek Shopping Center

They have all of these gorgeous fountains all around.

Finishing the day with ice cream sundaes...

2 cute kids....

Easter Fun!

Easter this year was fun and simple.  Allyson and Matt were in town, and Nate and Steph are close, so we decided to all get together at my house for our annual Easter Egg Hunt. Luckily it was a gorgeous day, and we were able to eat and play outside!

We had a simple luncheon of BBQ chicken sandwiches, chips and salad.

I don't think we ever get too old to go egg hunting!  My big boys seemed just as excited!  Steph and I had prepared 10 eggs for each child to find, then Allyson and Adrienne informed us that they had prepared 16 eggs for each kid.  So everyone found 26 eggs each, filled with goodies!  

Better make those dentist appts. pronto!

Success!!

Melt my HEART!  I checked Taylor and Ashlyn out of school for an afternoon, and we went to the park with Allyson and her 2 kids.  Ashlyn cannot get enough of Emma, and Emma adores Ash, and follows her around saying her name!   

Sooo cute!

Sadie Hawkins...

Alyssa recently went to Sadie Hawkins, her first school dance! 

The kids dressed in clothes from a decade of their choice. Her date was a great guy, and their group had tons of fun.  For a "day date", they went roller skating, then came back to one of the girl's homes, and ate homemade pizza.  Then after the dance, they came to our home and we fed them a yummy oreo/mint ice cream dessert.

St. Patrick's Day. 

Taylor has this cute shirt that really says,

"This is my LUCKY shirt", but he decided he didn't want it to say that anymore, so he wrote out "Happy St. Patrick's Day", on a sheet of paper and taped it over the other words...so funny...

Chocolate Chips...

How to make enemies at the grocery store...

So yesterday there was a 1-day sale at the store for Guittard Chocolate Chips..  I love these chips!  We use chocolate chips all the time at our house, but they can be so darn expensive...so when a sale hits...I'm all over it.  The front display was out of the milk chocolate, which of course is our favorite, so using my shopping saavyness, I headed to the baking isle, and sure enough there were some left on the shelf...I took almost all of them, totaling 40 in all, I think...

As I headed down the isle, a woman took a double take at my cart...

"Where did you get those???"

"Oh, there were a few left in the isle", I replied, then hurried outta there. 

I got several more stares from moms who didn't get in on the milk chocolate deal, and realized I need to cover the evidence, and fast!  I bought some bread and packets of taco seasoning, and strategically placed them over the 40 bags of chocolate chips. 

When I went to checkout, I realized I would have to uncover my stockpile, so I prayed I wouldn't have one of the unfortunate moms behind me in line.  I was lucky, there was an older woman behind me who only said, 

"Those must have been on sale".

I replied, "Yes, it was a good deal, it's my years supply...."

All I can say, is that when I put those babies in my food storage, I felt prepared!!

Karl said, "well at least we'll have chocolate..."

YUP!

She Made It!

Do you remember trying out for something in High School, and wanting more than ever for someone to say those magic words,

YES!!!
You got in! You made it!
We want you!

Well, it happened for Alyssa.  After several call backs with a gruelling audition process, Alyssa made Chamber Choir!  This is the most selective choir at our HS, and a real honor to get in! 

This morning, at 4:40am, a couple of girls came to get her up to take her to IHOP for a special "You made Chamber Choir" breakfast!  All of the new members were woken up and taken to breakfast!
What's great, is that her best friend made it too!!!

She just bounded out of bed and hugged her friends!

Now off to IHOP for a yummy breakfast!

Soooo proud of and happy for Alyssa!!

Ashlyn's Weekend...

Last weekend, Ashlyn went to a friend's birthday party.  He had a reptile show come to his house, and the kids had the opportunity to touch various types of reptiles.

Ashlyn and her friend sat way up on the couch, a little nervous about the SNAKE...

But then....bravery..or perhaps peer pressure won out, and she agreed to hold it!  I CANNOT believe she is my daughter!!!  I have a deep fear of snakes, and have weekly nightmares about them!!  (not kidding, Karl has to wake me up frequently!) 

Pretty proud of my girl!

Then, on Sunday afternoon, Ashlyn was jumping on the trampoline, and Parker and Connor decided to shoot arrows at clay pigeons on the ground, while they sat up in a tree.  One of the arrows ricocheted off of the clay pigeon, and hit Ashlyn's head, leaving a 1" gash, that even chipped part of her skull.  We spent the afternoon in the ER, where Ashlyn received staples.  She was super brave, I can't believe what a miracle that was!   I was shaking the next 24 hours, and teared up everytime I thought about how close we came to a tragedy in our family. 

 I can't stop hugging my baby girl!

Funny side note:  Of course Parker got all kinds of grief at school when everyone found out that he "shot his sister in the head with an arrow!!"  I asked Ashlyn how everyone found out about it, and she replied, "Oh, I told EVERYONE!  Even the principal!"

 Poor Parker...

Ashlyn added, that her friends all followed her around and said "it's like you're FAMOUS!"  Ashlyn would smuggly reply, "Oh, I know!"  She hasn't taken off her ER ID bracelet yet...
Our neighbor asked me yesterday, "so how's Robin Hood doing?"  

Poor Parker!

A Little Snow...

When we get a little snow, the Jensen's go wild!

My Mom and I snowshoed about 5 miles up and around a mountain in a little snow storm, it was gorgeous!

Megan and Ashlyn

The girls worked so hard on the base, that by the time they were ready for the middle and head, they were tired, so he's a little skinny up top..:)

While the girls built the snowman, the boys prepared for an attack...yeah, you know the rest...girls come storming in the house...

"Mom, the boys are throwing snowballs at us..." 

Boys, "No, we were throwing it at your snowman..."

Girls, "That's even worse, we worked HARD on that snowman!

"MOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!"

Connor had a scout camp out at a ward member's cabin, they snow shoed in...

Karl went with Connor, and they had a great time!!

THE CALL!!!

These are the MOMENTS!  

Moments, where you capture time because, life isn't quite the same from one second to the next.  

We just experienced a definite MOMENT!  My parents opened their mission call last week!!!  

Where are they going??? 

Keep reading!!

Those of us in the area, all met at our home for the opening of the envelope, but not before we had a little mission devotional first.  Nathan set up Skype and audio connections with Allyson (AZ), Aaron (OR),  Sean (WA), and Aunt Carol (OR), so they could participate.  

We started out our slide show with a picture of my mom and her twin sister with the missionaries that taught and baptized them.  She joined the church when she was 19yrs. old. 

Each of the returned missionaries in our family then gave a brief report of their mission, and we viewed pictures.  Testimonies were shared and it was a beautiful evening.  

Those who live out of state also provided a written summary, and supplied pics. 

 Our family has covered the globe!   

We have served in England, Florida, Argentina, Portugal, Brazil, New Jersey (Spanish), Russia, Oregon, Italy, Costa Rica, and California.

Reading the call!! 

Minneapolis, Minnesota!!

I guess they're good with it!

Everyone sent in predictions of where my parents would be sent.  We posted the guesses on a  map.  Ashlyn guessed Iowa, which is actually part of their mission and got a big bag of skittles, but then I realized my mom had guessed Canada...Which is also part of their mission, so I owe her a fun snow showing outing as a prize!!  :)

We are all so proud and can't wait to learn more about the great state of Minnesota!

Mom Perks...

Why I

LOVE

being a mom!!

Thanks Taylor!

Soccer weekend

This past weekend, Connor's soccer team participated in the President's Day Soccer Tournament in Mesquite, NV. Connor and I drove down with his friend and his friend's mom, then stayed in St. George at Karl's aunts house.  We had so much fun with those crazy boys! 

The tournament itself didn't go as well as we had hoped, we tied 2 games and won the 3rd (13:0), but it wasn't enough to get us into the finals.  The teams we tied were in a higher bracket than us, so we were really proud of our boys, they played really well! 

I LOVE WATCHING SOCCER! 

 I always have a book with me in case there is down time, but I always find myself totally engrosed in the game, or the games around us...and never touch the book!

So Much Fun!

We took some time to play in the pool at the Club House by Karl's aunts condo.

The boys played on a 20 million dollar soccer field! 

We took some time to walk around the St. George Temple..it's so white and beautiful!

There is this awesome rock park in St. George.  The boys had a blast climbing around and playing in the crevices. Kobe is Connor's best friend.

Eagle Honor

Last night we honored Parker at his Eagle Court of Honor.  It was a surreal evening, kind of something I'd hoped for my boys to achieve, but didn't know if it would be their goal as well.  It's definitely a long road, but Parker has been so self motivated it's actually been fun for the most part.  He has had outstanding leaders that we will be forever endebted to!

We honored 4 boys, and one of the boy's grandpa is Elder Jay E. Jensen of the First Quorum of the Seventy.  He was the closing speaker, we were very honored!

Parker had attended his friend's Court of Honor, and had seen an awesome cake.  He told me, "the only thing I really want, is a big cake!!"

You got it bud!

(Yeah for Costco!!)

4 boys were honored, and we each put together a small display, honoring our sons.

Pinning on the Mom pin.

Now for the dad...

Grandma and Grandpa Baxter.  Parker asked Grandpa Baxter to deliver his personal tribute, he did a beautiful job!

Grandma and Grandpa Jensen.  Both of Parker's grandpa's and his dad are Eagle Scouts!  Pretty awesome!

They don't come any finer than Parker!